HNTB and WSA to manage Florida's high-speed rail

The Florida Department of
Transportation, through its newly created Florida Rail Enterprise, has selected
HNTB Corporation and Wilbur Smith Associates, in a joint partnership, as its
program manager for passenger rail in the state of Florida. The primary
assignment for this team will be assisting with implementation of Florida's
high-speed rail program, which recently received a grant award of $1.25 billion
for Phase 1: Tampa-Orlando. This was one of the top awards in the Federal
Railroad Administration's competition for $8 billion available in American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds through the Vision for High Speed Rail in
America program.

The Florida Rail Enterprise
is responsible for planning, constructing, maintaining, operating and promoting
Florida's high-speed rail system. The Enterprise, created in December 2009 by
the Florida Legislature, also coordinates the development and operation of
Florida's publicly funded passenger rail systems.

The HNTB/WSA team will
provide overall program support and oversight for planning, design, public
outreach, vehicle and systems integration, operations, construction, project
controls and procurement of all contracts on the Florida high-speed rail
program.

"It's exciting to see
the return on the investment we made in high-speed rail," said Peter Gertler,
HNTB's high-speed rail services chair. "I'm confident that our momentum will
continue to grow as more funding is released."

"The Florida DOT's
visionary planning has us in a position where all the stars have aligned to
move this first HSR Express system in the country into implementation: strong
public investment in the infrastructure, bipartisan political and grass roots
support, and a great project with almost all the right of way secured" said
Adrian Share, WSA's high-speed rail program manager.